THE GUERNSEY & JERSEY MAGAZINE. FEBRUARY, 1837. SKETCH OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS IN FRANCE. THE reformed opinions were introduced into France by Calvin, during the reign of Francis the First, to whom he dedicated his work entitled "Christian Institutions." His doctrines were opposed by severe edicts, but these are to be rather attributed to the intolerance of the age, than the zeal or piety of the monarch. The character of Francis was widely different from that of his illustrious competitor Charles the Fifth. The latter resisted the reformation, because he felt a sincere attachment to the old system; but the king of France was a man of gallantry, and the natural liveliness of his temper induced him rather to indulge in the gaieties of the court, than enter into any tedious discussions on the dry and perplexing points of religious controversy. In the reign of his successor, Henry the Second, the religious wars commenced in France, and continued till the capture of Rochelle by the famous Cardinal Richelieu, in the reign of Louis the Thirteenth. During this period of anarchy, which lasted seventy years, the history of France exhibits a scene of murder, war, cruelty, and fanaticism, from which humanity recoils with horror. In 1550, the edict of Ecouen was promulgated, which sentenced all heretics to death; and be it observed, the guilt or innocence of the accused depended on Catholic judges. On the accession of Francis the Second, who had married the celebrated and unfortunate Mary Stuart, niece of the Prince of Lorraine, the whole power of the state was confined to the house of Guise, whose bigotry and ambition produced the most deplorable calamities. It so happened that the Prince of Condé, whose birth and talents gave him the most just pretensions to an effec tive share in the administration, was a Hugonot; it was easy, therefore, or the cardinal and his brother to crush their rival, by accusing him of an intention to subvert the established religion. In this design, they Vol. III.-No. 2. 5 mct with complete success, and the prince, in order to revenge himself, and procure toleration to the Calvinists, put himself at the head of the famous conspiracy of Amboise. This plot was revealed to the Guises by an accomplice; twelve hundred victims were immolated: the prince was arrested, and would have fallen a victim to the vengeance of the cardinal and his brother, had not the sudden death of Francis arrested their tyrannical career. Charles the Ninth succeeded his brother at the early age of ten, and the queen mother, Catherine of Medicis, who had borne with indignation and impatience the yoke of the Princes of Lorraine, determined to curb their insolence, and abridge their authority. "Divide et impera" was her motto, and she hoped, by making concessions to the Protestant leaders, to secure her own power by holding the balance between the contending parties. The dreadful consequences which resulted from this Machiavelian policy, proved the fallacy of her expectations. The French historians enumerate four distinct civil wars during this reign. The Duke of Guise was assassinated by Poltrot; the Prince of Condé was slain in the battle of Jarnac; and the famous De Coligny, and many other of the principal leaders of the Protestants, were slaughtered in the horrible massacre of St. Bartholomew." It is a fact too well attested by history, that Charles himself, from a window of the Louvre, fired muskets on his subjects, which were handed up to him ready loaded by his attendants.† These enormities were perpetrated for the glory of God they were justified on the plea that it was criminal to keep faith with heretics, and the event was so joyfully welcomed at Rome and Madrid, that public festivities were ordered to celebrate the bloody sacrifice. The parliament of Paris ordered an annual procession to commemorate the deliverance of religion from the machinations of its enemies, and a medal was struck, bearing this inscription, "Piety arms justice." The reign of Henry the Third is remarkable for the consolidation of that armed confederacy which, under the impious title of the "Holy League," was made the instrument of promoting the ambitious schemes of the house of Lorraine. Pope Sixtus the Fifth issued a bull against the Hugonots; in which, after having declared that kings and princes were all subject to the decrees of the Vatican, he absolved the French from their allegiance to their lawful monarch, and anathematized the king of Navarre, afterwards Henry the Fourth, as a blasphemer, a heretic, an infidel, an enemy of God, and a reviler of the only true Millot estimates the number of persons murdered in Paris and the provinces, at 60,000; other writers at 100,000. Hist. Moderne, vol. ii, p. 459. + Vide Voltaire Henriade :- Que dis-je, ô crime, ô honte, ô comble de nos maux, faith that is to say, of the faith which Sixtus found most conducive to his own interest. The doctors of the Sorbonne imitated the example of their spiritual leader, and declared that it was lawful to deprive an incapable prince of the throne. Thus strengthened, the leaguers became ungovernably insolent; they convened an assembly at Nancy, and then drew up a memorial, which was presented to the king, in which he was enjoined to banish from the court all persons suspected of heresy to enforce the decisions of the council of Trent: to establish the inquisition in the principal towns of the kingdom to surrender all the fortified cities to the League, and to pay the arrears due to the troops. Even these insolent demands were not sufficient to tranquillize the fears of bigotry, or gratify ecclesiastical ambition. By the death of the Duke of Anjou, Henry the Fourth became presumptive heir to the crown, and as his religious opinions inclined to toleration, and his talents and courage rendered him capable of restraining the turbulence of the Duke of Guise, the leaguers determined to exclude him from the succession. An edict was extorted from the king at Rouen, which, among other articles, incapacitated all but Catholics from holding any of the great offices of state. By this decree the King of Navarre was indirectly declared incapable of inheriting the throne. Though the king was of a weak and imbecile temper, he was at length roused to the highest indignation, by the triumphant and increasing popularity of the Duke of Guise. But as he despaired to bring him to condign punishment by judicial proceedings, he resolved to follow the example of his predecessors, and gratify his resentment at the expense of his honour and his virtue. With his own hand he presented the dagger to the assassin, and caused the duke to be murdered in the royal apartments. When the news of this bloody catastrophe reached Paris, the Catholies, with one voice, demanded vengeance on the sovereign. The Duke of Mayenne, brother to the Duke of Guise, was appointed chief of the league. To oppose this confederacy, Henry reconciled himself with the King of Navarre, and their united forces besieged the capital. Here there occurred another of those atrocious deeds which superstition, inflamed by ecclesiastical fury, has so frequently perpetrated. Jacques Clement, a dominican friar, whose imagination had been worked upon by the fanatical preachers of the time, fancied that he was an instrument in the hands of Heaven, destined to rescue his country from the impending dangers of heresy. The prior of his convent applauded his resolution: the enthusiast repaired to St. Cloud, obtained an audience of the king, and immolated on the shrine of bigotry the last miserable descendant of the miserable house of Valois. Henry of Navarre, immortalized in the annals of France by the name of "Henri Quatre," succeeded to the throne. The command of the royal forces devolved upon him, but his heretical opinions occasioned numerous desertions, as well among the nobility as among the private soldiers. Henry was compelled to raise the siege of Paris, and retired towards Dieppe. Mayenne pursued him: the triumph of the Catholics appeared certain; but the good fortune or genius of Henry prevailed, and the victory of Arques, immediately followed by a reinforcement of four thousand English, despatched by Elizabeth, enabled the king to march again to the capital. The battle of Ivri, gained by the royal forces, completely destroyed the hopes of the leaguers, who, forgetful of national honour, solicited the aid of Philip the Second, King of Spain; who, either from bigotry, or from the expectation of perpetuating the civil war, and rendering the exhausted country an easier conquest, despatched the famous Farnese, Prince of Parma, by whose assistance the siege of Paris was raised. Though the Parisians had suffered all the horrors of famine, the influence of the priests was so complete, that, on the departure of the Spanish troops, Henry found it impossible to prevail on his fanatical subjects to accept a Hugonot king. He accordingly renounced heresy, and at the church of St. Dennis embraced Catholicism, and received the crown. Henry had scarcely assumed the government, when his life was attempted by Jean Chatel, the son of a Parisian tradesman. Fortunately, the king sustained no further injury than an incision in the upper lip, and the loss of a tooth. The examination of this fanatic proved the dangerous power of the clergy, and particularly of the Jesuits. From the facts elicited, it appeared that the holy fathers had introduced Chatel into an apartment, called the chamber of meditation; the walls of which, by the aid of chemical preparation, were covered with the most terrifying representations of the infernal regions. When his fears of eternal punishment were excited to the utmost, he was told, that the surest method of averting the divine anger was the extirpation of heres y, and exhorted to render himself acceptable to his Maker by imbruing his hands in the blood of his sovereign. In consequence of this disclosure, the Jesuits were banished the kingdom; the parliament, in its decree, calling them "the corruptors of youth, the disturbers of public tranquillity, and enemies of the king and the state. * The most remarkable event which happened in the reign of Henry the Fourth, was the protection afforded to the Protestants by the celebrated edict of Nantz. This charter of toleration was drawn up by four of the ablest men in France :-Stromberg, De Thou, the historian, Jeannin, and Calignon, who were occupied two years in framing its articles. The speech which the king delivered to the parliament on this * Anquetil Hist. de France, vol. vi, p. 255. They were restored A. D. 1603. occasion deserves to be recorded and studied for its good sense and conciliating spirit. He commenced by stating his anxiety to put an end to domestic factions, and to disseminate peace and fraternal feeling throughout the empire. "Let us," said Henry, in the true spirit of a Christian, "let us destroy the invidious distinctions of Catholic and Hugonot; let us all unite to promote the glory and happiness of France; and, like the members of one great family, vie with each other in acts of virtue and philanthropy. Conscious of the frailty of our nature, let us practise universal toleration, and let the Catholics, renouncing the cruel aid of persecution, endeavour to convert the Protestants by the purity of their morals, and the integrity of their lives."* By the edict of Nantes, the Protestants enjoyed the public exercise of their worship in specified places, but they were bound to obey the jurisdiction of the court of Rome, to abstain from labour on festivals, and to pay tithes. It was also enacted, that the poor and sick should be permitted to enter the hospitals on the same terms as the Catholics; that the Hugonots should be eligible to all the employments of state; and that, in the parliaments, the chamber of justice should be composed of an equal number of judges of the two persuasions. Several towns were given up to the Protestants, as places of security, which they were allowed to retain for eight years. Had Henry attained to an advanced period of life, the excellence of his heart, and the lively interest he took in the public welfare, would have raised France to the height of prosperity. Unlike the herd of kings who have disgraced humanity, Henry did not forget in his palace those devoted friends who had supported him in adversity. When firmly seated on the throne, he did not violate the promises he had made to the Protestant soldiers, who had secured to him his birthright; he did not pretend "that the convenient time was not arrived;" but, with a virtuous magnanimity, which his descendants are fonder of praising than imitating, preserved his honor, his word, and his gratitude, even at the expense of his life. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the best of princes fell by the hand of Ravaillac, and thus added one more victim to the infuriated vengeance of orthodoxy. In 1614, four years after the assassination of Henry, a meeting of the states general was convened, and the debate which followed abundantly proved that the spirit of bigotry had regained its power. It was proposed by the "tiers état," that a resolution should be entered into, declaring that no spiritual or temporal power had a right of altering the succession to the crown, or absolving the subject from the oath of allegiance. This was rejected by the clergy, as an audacious and blasphemous innovation. In 1629, Richelieu captured Rochelle, and • The speech of the king is given at length in Anquetil, vol. vi, p. 174. |